Supporting Australian Screen Stories For Children – deadline for making a submission extended to 3rd July

The Commonwealth Government is seeking community and industry feedback on options to support Australian screen stories in a modern, multi-platform environment.

Do you and your kids enjoy Australian children’s television programs at home or school? Why does this content matter and why should it be a priority to support Australian children’s screen content?

The deadline for making a submission has been extended until the 3^rd of July, so now there is no excuse for not making your voice heard!

“By [providing Australian stories for children], we’re saying “you’re worth it”. I get told a thousand times a day – “my child watches Little Lunch over and over again. They absolutely adore it.” That’s why we have to give stories like this to our children.”

Heidi Arena, Actor (Little Lunch, The Inbestigators)

The Commonwealth Government has released an Options Paper to consider future regulatory and funding models for the Australian screen sector. You can read the Options Paper here.

You don’t need to respond to the four models outlined in the Options Paper. The Minister, the Hon Paul Fletcher, has stressed that the Options Paper is intended to spark discussion, but that submissions do not need to discuss the four models.

"Seeing yourself represented in a story you love can be a life-changing experience. It makes you sit up and feel noticed; ultimately less alone and less afraid."

Jenna Guillaume, Freelance Writer and Editor

Quality Australian children’s television content is vulnerable.

If you enjoy Australian children’s content and appreciate its contribution to a developing Australian identity and way of life, and would like to see Australian children’s content prioritised in the Review, we encourage you to write a letter as your submission, highlighting your favourite shows, where you watch them, and how you would like to see them supported in future.

You can email your letter to contentoptionspaper@communications.gov.au by 5pm on 3 July  2020.

"It is humbling to think a child in a community in the Top End or Tasmania can look at Little J and Big Cuz, made only of a few curving lines moving across a screen, and recognise themselves."

Tony Thorne, Director and Designer (Little J and Big Cuz)

"When we see see ourselves on screen, we realise the fundamental human truth that we’re all the same, and that we have more in common than we have that’s different."

Julie Kalceff, Director (First Day)